Where were you in 1991?

November 10th, 1989

Hopefully today’s flights to and from Paris will be my last for a while. Staying at the hotel was certainly an experience and as much as I enjoyed catching up with everyone, I’d much rather be on a long haul trip, as opposed to operating a series of frantic, thirty-five minute flights!

Mum was asleep when I got home so I took Tini out for a quick walk, then I drove to the city centre, with the intention of buying some new clothes but once I started looking around the shops, I lost interest.

The weather was perfect for escaping to the cinema, so I walked over to The Point to see what was playing. “Shirley Valentine,” was about to start but after seeing the show in New York, I thought the film would only pale in comparison. I bought a small popcorn and went to see, “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” which was a bit poncy, but still enjoyable, especially whenever James Spader was onscreen (and oh that hair of his, phew!)

I thought about popping in to see Susan at work but I knew I’d end up asking her about Ben and as much as I yearn to know how he is, I knew hearing his name would only upset me, so I surprised myself by coming home.

Dad was home from work and mum was still in bed. I honestly don’t know how dad manages to stay so positive when everything around him is so shit. I admire him so much for putting on such a brave face because I know it must be next to impossible having a wife who pretty much hides from the world for lengthy periods.

I’d planned on asking dad if he’d had any more thoughts about mum and what we could be doing to help her but when the nightly news came on, it was all about the fall of the Berlin wall.

It was pretty amazing watching droves of people from the East walking freely through the gates to the excited cheers of the residents from the West. Many of the tv images were of people climbing up the wall, chipping away at the concrete and I can’t imagine it’ll be too long before the entire monstrosity is gone.

“Did that reporter just say the wall is twenty eight miles long, Dad?”

“Aye, did ye no know that?”
“I had no idea,” I said, shaking my head. “That’s outrageous. I can’t imagine how much seeing something of that magnitude every day of your life would affect you.”

I pretended not to notice when dad wiped away a few tears. “This is something I never thought I’d see in my lifetime,” he said.